The present invention relates to a surgical instrument assembly for use in a biopsy operation, and more particularly to a biliary biopsy device for severing and retrieving portions of lesions or other clumps of organic tissue from a patient's internal organs.
Differentiating malignant biliary strictures from benign ductal lesions can be a diagnostic challenge. For example, malignant-appearing bile duct strictures are commonly encountered during endoscopic retrograde cholangeopancreatography ("ERCP") in patients presenting with signs and symptoms of biliary obstruction or pancreatitis. However, benign etiologies are often indistinguishable radiologically from malignancy, emphasizing the importance of histologic diagnosis (i.e. taking a biopsy).
Present methods of taking a biopsy in the biliary tree frequently rely on the use of cytology brushes, needle aspiration, and in some instances forceps for severing and recovering a portion of a lesion or other growth of interest. Unfortunately, each of these procedures is characterized by its own deficiencies, limitations and difficulties such that none of them is considered a fully acceptable biopsy device. In particular, these alternative devices tend to be difficult to use and/or remove such a small portion of the lesion or other growth that the characterization of the removed organic tissue is unreliable or difficult.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a biopsy device suitable for use in the biliary tree and like small ducts.
Another object is to provide such a device which yields a specimen of a desirably large volume for performing a biopsy analysis.
A further object is to provide such a device which is especially well suited for use in a blind biopsy operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a device which, in a preferred embodiment, safely captures the biopsied specimen yet facilitates ejection of the specimen from the device when desired.
It is a further object to provide such device which is simple and economical to manufacture and use.